1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to presses and more particularly to apparatus for installing and removing dies in presses and stocking them.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although presses have been primarily developed as an advantageous and economical means for producing works in large quantities, they are now actually often used to produce a larger variety of works in small quantities. Accordingly, it is very frequently required to change dies in a press when changing from one production run to another, and, for this purpose, it is necessary to prepare and stock a variety of dies for a variety of works.
Heretofore, such die changeovers have been ordinarily manually accomplished, and it has been usual that such a variety of dies are stocked in storages located far apart from the presses. Accordingly, it has been required for operators of presses to remove and install large and heavy dies in presses and carry them from the presses to the storages and vice versa.
Of course, such a die changeover is time-consuming, and it is necessary to shut down operation of the press for a considerable time with the result that the productive output is obviously reduced. Also, it is difficult and dangerous to change large and heavy dies in the usual manner, and such die changeover is required to be done by a skilled operator mostly with the aid of one or more assistants. Furthermore, a variety of dies requires not only the aforementioned time-consuming labors but also a larger space for storage as in the conventional manner. Accordingly, several presses for a variety of dies are often employed simply in order to avoid frequent die changeovers.